Employers forcing workers to retire at 65 to cut costs during recession, say charities
Employers in the United Kingdom have been forcing employees to retire at age 65, the default or compulsory retirement age, to save money during the recession, according to two charities.
In their pre-election manifesto, Age Concern and Help the Aged said firms forced 100,000 people to stop working once they hit the state pension age last year as a "cheap alternative" to redundancy. This is a four-fold increase over the year before.
While the majority of people in the U.K. retire before 65, about 1.3 million work beyond the default retirement age and many more say they would if their employer would allow it, said the groups.
The default retirement age allows employers to force workers to retire at 65, although they must consider requests from individuals for their retirement to be postponed.
The government is reviewing the default retirement age and doing all it can to encourage employers to recruit and retain older workers, said Pensions Minister Angela Eagle.
